Railway snow-flanger.



E. R.`PACKER.

RAILWAY SNOW FLANGER.

APPLICATIONFILED SEPTA 13. i915.

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' Patented Nov. .30, 1915.l

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ITN/9712er.;

EBEN B. PACKER, WILMET'IE,' ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY: SNOW-FLANGER.

Specification of Letters'atent.

Patented Nmj. 30,191.5.

Application flledsptember I3, 1915. `Serial N0. 50,348.

To N whom it may concern.' y

,Be it known that I, EBEN R. Packen. a citizen of the lfnited States. residing atlVilmette, county of Cook, State of Illinois. have invented a certain new'and useful Improvement in Railway Snow-Flangers. and declare `the following to be a full, clear, and exact I description of the same, such as will enable vsa others skilled in the artto which it pertains to make and use the same. reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

In my prior Patent Xo. 1.057.084 dated March 25,1913. I have disclosed and claimed a new ty'pe of snow Hanger, that is a mechanism adapted for use on railway cars or locomotives for the purpose of clearing the rails of snow and ice.

The present invention-has forits object to improve my prior lang'er incertain respects. Thus in the Hanger of my aforesaid patent the blades or wings which are adapt- 'ed to be let down lover the tops of the rails to remove the snow and ice are normally held in raised idle positions by pneumatic pressure and are only lowered into their working -positions when the air is exhausted.

'This arrangement makes it possible for the Hanger vto be dropped down on the rails accidentally lin case there is failure of the air pressure, and this might not be discovered until damage had resulted by reason of the hanger catching in a' switcher other 0bstruction.

One of the purposes of my invention isto overcome this objection to myfprior Hanger andto make it as safe as-possible and not liable accidentally to drop down into its working position.

Furthermore. in the arrangement shown in'my aforesaid patent7 where the Hanger is mounted on the truck .of a locomotive special equalizing plates'. are employed, these being substituted for the usual equalizing plates present in the. truck.

Another featureof my present invention is to do away with th necessity for disturbing the equalizer plates of locomotive trucks and make the connection between the Hanger and the, truck extremely-simple.-

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims: but. for. a full understanding of my invention' and of its objects and advantages. reference may be had to the following detailed description Itaken in connection vwith the accompanyingdrawings. wherein:

Figure lis a top plan view of a Hanger and its supporting device arranged in accordance with a preferred form of my invention, a portion of the locomotive truck being shown in dotted lines; Fig. '.2 is a front view of the mechanism shown in Fig. I. a part of one 'of the wings, being broken away; Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on line 3-3 of Fig. l, showing the relation ofthe flanger to the locomotive pilot Fig. 4

is a detail on a slightly enlarged scale showing one of the pneumatic actuating devicesv for the Hanger in position to hold the Hanger down; and Fig. 5 isa .view similar to Fig. 4.. showing the normal condition of the pneumatic actuating device when the air supply is exhausted.

In my prior patent above noted I have illustrated my Hanger `as embodied-in vari- 'ous different specific forms. For the sake of brevity I have selected for the'purpose of. illustrating the improvements in myprior' tianger only a single form and I desire to have it understood thatI do not intend ,to be limited to the single form so illustrated. but

intend to cover my improvements as applied to all of my various forms of Hangers shown in the aforesaid patent and also to that form in which the blades or wings extend entirely across the track and thus form a plow in addition to performing their functions of cleaningI lthe snow and ice from the rails themselves.

Reference beingr had to the drawings. and@ are nackets the rear portions of which are shaped to takev the place of and serve the same purpose as the front pedestal of two of the journal boxes of a locomotive truck. In order to apply the Hanger to a truck, the two front pedestals are removed and the two brackets are put in their place.

'The brackets are provided with elongated vertical or substantially vertical slots. 3, through which extends a transverse bar or cross piece. 4. having/at its ends the flanger wings or blades.l The two brackets are f connected together by means of a horizontal crossbrace., 6, which lies slightly in front of the brackets and near lthe lower ends there`- of; the ends.y 7; of the brace being bent rearwardly so as to overlap the brackets, and being suitably fastened theretoby means of' bolts, 8, or the like. The lifting and lowering mechanism `f0r the Hanger is arrangedv betweenthe bar 4 and the brace G, consisting of one or more pneumatic engines or motors. In the arrangement shown there are two of these pneumatic devices, one arranged near each side. The pneumatic devenough to provide room therein above the pistons for strong compression springs, 12,

which, when free to do so, expand and raise the cylinders and with them the cross bar and the Hanging blades or wings, so as to hold the blades or wings in their inoperative positions above the rails. This condition is illustrated in F ig. 5, where the spring is shown expanded far enough to force the cylinder up until the piston is located in the extreme lower end'of the cylinder.

A suitable .flexible connection, la, is providedfor admittingcompressed air into the cylinders beneath the pistons. This connection may be the same as in my prior patent and therefore requires no explanation. lVhen no air is being supplied through the connection, either because thelair has been shut otf or because an air pipe has accidentally become broken and therefore allowed the air to escape, the parts occupy the positions indicated in Fig. 5 and hold-the Hanger inits idle raised position. When it is desired to lower the langer in operative relation to the rails, in order to clean the rails or the track in case the Hanger be in the forni of a plow, air is supplied through the connection 1l and it enters the cylinders be neath the pistons where it exerts sufficient pressure to overcome the tension of the springs 1Q above the pistons and' consequently draws the cylinders down and lowers the Hanger as indicated in Fig. 4: and also in Figs. 2 and 3..

'It will thus be seen that the normal condition of the anger is that of being elevated clear of the track and it will always.

but is 'only required for the purpose of.

.bringing the anger-into its working position.

I claim: A

l. A snow Hanger attachment for locomotive trucks comprising a frame having portions constructed and arranged to take the place of two of the pedestals of the truck journal boxes, and a Hanger carried by said frame.

Q. The combination with ,a railway vehicle, of a supporting frame carried thereby, a snow Hanger, a vertical cylinder connected to the Hanger, a piston supported by said frame, a springl in the cylinder above the piston tending normally to raise `the cylinder, and means for admitting fluid under pressure into the cylinder beneath the piston.

A snow-removing attachment for railway vehicles, comprising a frame, a cross bar mounted on said frame so as to be movable in the vertical direction, means on the frame for removing snow from the track,

- a cooperating piston member and cylinder 

